Do you dread the wrinkles that come with old age? If your answer is in the affirmative, then you may need to be more active sexually, because scientists say that sex does the body good. In fact, anti-ageing experts say that the more sex you have, the younger and healthier you become. A good sex life, they say, also helps you to live longer.
An active sex life is good for your heart, memory and immune system, and, as a new book, Younger (Sexier) You, reveals, you can boost yours just by drinking coffee and eating peanuts
The book, written by a United States anti-ageing expert, Dr. Eric Braverman, says sex not only raises your hormone levels (so keeping you young), but can also boost your metabolism, brain, heart and immunity.
And if your sex life is tepid, rather than torrid, don’t despair, says Braverman, according to the Mail of London. Whether you’re 30 or 100, a combination of good diet, nutritional supplements and some ‘natural’ hormones will restore your drive and ensure that you enjoy the health benefits, too.
Many sexual problems, says Braverman, can be addressed by eating particular foods. Drinking coffee, he says, can help boost a flagging libido, while snacking on peanuts can enhance arousal. Eating brown rice can help combat sexual coldness, while avocadoes might increase your capacity for pleasure.
But while agreeing that regular sex can increase metabolism and boost hormones, one consultant family physician at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Dr. Tony Aluka, doubts how regular sex can make one to look healthier and younger.
However, Braverman says the other great physical enemy of a healthy sex life is the menopause — and the male version, the andropause (both of which entail the loss of sex hormones which affect sex drive and function).
But it’s not just about the mechanics of sex. Healthy sexual function is also about how your brain reacts to the messages it’s receiving from your body, he adds.
When your brain is working at its peak, brain chemicals are produced and dispersed at the correct levels. A reduced sexual desire can apparently be the first sign there’s a problem with one of the four key brain chemicals. These are dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA and serotonin. A deficiency in each will produce specific types of sexual problem.
In fact, some scientific studies have suggested that sex can bring many health benefits. A 2001 study, Sex and the heart: what is the role of the cardiologist?, published in European Heart Journal, notes that sex is good for the heart. According to the study, anything that exercises the heart is good for it, including sex. Sexual arousal sends the heart rate higher, and the number of beats per minute reaches its peak during orgasm.
Sex can also be a stress buster. A study on blood pressure and sex published in Biological Psychology of February 2006 claims that sex can help you beat the stresses of 21st Century life style.
The 46 men and women who participated in the study kept a diary of sexual activity, recording penetrative sex, non-penetrative sex and masturbation. In stress tests, including public speaking and doing mental arithmetic out loud, the people who had no sex at all had the highest stress levels. People who only had penetrative sex had the smallest rise in blood pressure. This shows that they coped better with stress.
Researchers have also found a link between how often one has sex and how strong one’s immune system is. A study, Sexual frequency and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA), published in the June 2004 edition of Psychology Report found that students who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of an important illness-fighting substance in their bodies. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) was 30 per cent higher in those who had sex once or twice a week than in those who had no sex at all. However, the lowest levels were in people who had sex more than twice a week. But the researchers say more research is needed before it can be proved that weekly sex helps your immune system.
However, in another study correlating overall health with sexual frequency, Queens University in Belfast Northern Ireland tracked the mortality of about 1,000 middle-aged men over the course of a decade. The study was designed to compare people of similar age and health. Its findings, published in 1997 in the British Medical Journal, were that men who reported the highest frequency of orgasm enjoyed a death rate half that of the laggards.
Sex has also been found to be therapeutic in many other ways. An article on reasons to have sex every week, published on the December 10, 2007 edition of Newsweek magazine lists the following as ways that sex can boost your health:
* It’s a beauty treatment. In a study at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland, a panel of judges viewed participants through a one-way mirror and guessed their ages. Those who looked seven to 12 years younger than their age (labeled ‘superyoung’) were also enjoying lots of sex—four times a week, on average. OK, maybe they were having so much fun because they looked young. But it’s likely the sex was helping, researchers say. One reason is that it raises a woman’s estrogen level, which helps make hair shiny and skin supple.
* It burns calories. A little over four calories a minute, or the equivalent of four Hershey’s kisses in a half hour of love.
* It can cure migraine. For a woman a migraine might actually be a reason for making love rather than avoiding intercourse: the increase in endorphins and corticosteroids during arousal and orgasm is analgesic.
* It promotes regular menstrual cycles. A series of studies by behavioral endocrinologist Winnifred Cutler, and colleagues at Columbia and Stanford universities found that women who have intercourse at least weekly (except during their period) cycle more regularly than abstainers or the sporadically active. Cutler argues that intimacy is essential, not orgasms, “Regular exposure to a loving partner has extraordinary effects on health and well-being.”
* It can prevent accidents. Women use the muscles of the pelvic floor to stem the flow of urine. As they age, they need to keep these strong to avoid peeing accidentally. The same muscles are exercised during intercourse.
But is there anything like too much sex? The answer is different for male and females. According to the article, Sex does the body good, published on www.msbn.com, Dr. Claire Bailey of the University of Bristol, says that there is little or no risk of a woman overdosing on sex. In fact, she says, regular sessions can not only firm a woman’s tummy and buttocks but also improve her posture.
As for men, Dr. J. Francois Eid, a urologist at Weil Medical College New York Presbyterian Hospital, says it’s definitely possible to get too much of a good thing, now that drugs such as Viagra and Levitra have given men far more staying power than what may actually be good for them.
The male organ, Eid says, is wonderfully resilient. But everything has its limits. Penile tissues, if given too roistering or prolonged a pummelling, can sustain damage.
However, arguing that regular sex may not make one healthier and younger, Aluka says that a look at many commercial sex workers will give a lie to the claim.
He said, “Yes, sex can increase hormones, raise metabolism and release tension. I have watched a documentary of an elephant on heat. It was very destructive and only became calm after having sex. It can be the same for humans. But that is how far that can go.
“But I doubt whether regular sex can make one look healthier and younger. If you look at many commercial sex workers or some people living in rural areas that have more than one wife, you will notice that they do not appear healthier and younger. And these are the people that have sex regularly.
He says while some of the studies’ findings may be true in the Western world, it may not be replicated in the Nigerian environment where many people do not feed well. “So, telling somebody who is no feeding well to have sex regularly may be telling the person to commit suicide,” he says.
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